Id did it, I finally Did it!

Well ive done it,
Ever get really drunk one night, talk about something your so passionate about.. and ... say

'' Im going to do it. ''

Well after 2 yrs of backpacking and working...
atleast $10,000 in hostels, transport and airfares.. I finally got myself too, and absorbed the atmosphere in the area's i feel contributed to mankinds standing today.

The events of World war 2.

Ive been obsessed with war history since i was young, and today I just arrived back home, in Perth having completed my final mission.

And I felt the need to show some of the places Ive been.


First stop, St Mere Eglise



Spending a week in this town, I made sure every night I was out on the streets, wandering around the paddocks, getting lost... dis-orientated... trying to understand how the airborne felt that fatefell night when they jumped into France to ensure an allied victory.






The church so set in concrete from ' The longest day ' is still littered with bullet holes..
the only problem here, was the parachutist landed on the OTHER side of the steeple, and infact 2 people got caught up.
Either way, i admire the fact the town continues to leave the dummy up there.



The back streets, less than 100m from the church. Can you imagine falling from the sky at night into this street, knowing every way you go, there's nazi's?




A small coffee shop to the west of the church where the airborne sheltered at night. The insignia still stands above the doorway.



The museum opposite the church,
Its an excellent musuem with everything about the invasion. worth a visit.

Next Stop, Omaha.


This is the beach those men fought and died for, the tide is in, and it didnt give the best vantage point, but the following :



Cant you just see germans barricaded at the top, mowing down men and materials.... smoke in the background and explosions happening all around...


Point Du Hoc





Still littered with craters...
wouldnt a metal detector be worth the investment in this area?



this was a battle in the first days of normany.
The solider over looks the roads the germans came down with their tanks,
the allies, outnumbered and without supplies held them off and defeated them.

This solider for ever looks over the battle field.

Next stop, Dresden.




This city is amazingly beautiful, the old city section is breath taking..
I cant imagine what it must of been like, before the bombings.
Note the blackened shades.... the result of firebombing from the allies.


Next stop, BERLIN




all farmiliar sites, but what about this :


www.britannica.com... (for some historical data)
The famous courtyard where hitler burnt all the books.....





Then there's this place.
Some might not, some might not, but thats the point.
No plaque, sign or plate has been erected here, and rightly so.
This is the area' where hitlers body was burnt, and above where his bunker still lies.
A few 100m's from the reichstag to the right, in a hotel carpark.

Who could imagine in this spot, the future was decided.


And now, onto Auschwitz







What a crime of humanity.

Photos can never show the true scope of this place, but it is huge...
thats a fact that just makes it all the more harder to believe, a man was capable of such.



Now, off to Berchtesgaden. The home of The 3rd Reich.





If you look in the 2nd photo, top left.. theres a distinct building on top of the mountain, very very far away.
Thats hitlers EAGLES NEST.

And that town, in the photo above, is where you had to be a member of the 3rd reich to live.

those photos were the view from the cheapest hotel in the town. What a score.

Finally, onto the one city in the world which I feel I just had to get to.


HIROSHIMA!














I sat under the a-bomb dome with my book ' shockwave, count down to hiroshima '
and Its an unreal feeling to read minute by minute the prep, the drop, the explosion and the after effects....
Read about how people jupmed into the river , died and floated away... only to turn, and look down 10m to see that exact river..

hiroshima, im just speachless as how much this city spoke to me...

Much more so than Nagasaki.



The statute signifies us today, the upheld hand means more bombs are out there, and the outstretched hand means peace for man.




This wall, only 200-300 from the hypocentre still stands.
It was the wall of a jail in nagasaki.
I felt compelled to plant the seeds I was given at the hiroshima peace festival here...



Nagasaki CITY




take note of the red dot, that is the hypo centre in nagsaki.




above is a small section of the ground, preserved on show.
This was the earth as it stood under the hypocentre.




This squire signifies ground zero.
Exactly above this point, is where the bomb detonated.



Ladies and Gents, that is it.
Tonight, Was the final day of my mission to get to, sit in, and absorb the most pivitol events in the most pivitol moment of man kind.

World war 2.

Feel free to copy and photos your wish, all are 100% genuine and taken from my camera, held in my hands... with hope of remmebering the past.

Absolutely AMAZING!

Thank you for sharing this with us. I'll bet it was incredible to be able to be in all those places. All that history! The emotions must have been running high the whole time!

I hope to take a trip almost exactly like that one day soon. Those are all places I think we should all visit at least once in our lives!

Thanks again.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Of course I'm sure these places were much more impressive in person, but those of us who can't be there can get some sense of the the magnitude of the events that took place in your photos.

great pictures and one hell of a trip. I hit Japan years ago (senior year of high school) and Hiroshima and Nagasaki were so moving. I remembered feeling somehow guilty for the bombs.

Thanks for the photo essay. I do have to ask, why RATS? This is something everyone should be able to see.

Great Pictures...

I'm so happy and excited for you. So many people dream of doing "something" all of thier lives, but few ever get to.

I would also like to see all those places, to try to understand more of what happened in those years. It is quite amazing really to see them, particularly Auschwitz I daresay is terrible to see.

oooh forgot to add,

I have thousands upon thousands of photos from various european places... not just related to world war 2, but mainly the bulk are.

so if anyone wants any, specific threads posted for auschwitz, or berlin, or anything like that let me know, be happy to throw the photos out there.

Awesome thread Agit8d, thank you for sharing. It's wonderful to be able to see such history through the eyes of a friend, rather than a book or brochure, much more personal although as stated by dbates nowhere near as touching as being there in person I imagine.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are definitely on my agenda while I am here in Japan.

I am so happy for you - you accomplished what you set out to do, that is truly wonderful Kudos!

posted by Agit8dChop
Well I’ve done it,
Ever get really drunk one night, talk about something your so passionate about.. and ... say '' Im going to do it. '' Well after 2 yrs of backpacking and working...at least $10,000 in hostels, transport and airfares.. I finally got myself too, and absorbed the atmosphere in the area's I feel contributed to mankind standing today. The events of World war 2. I’ve been obsessed with war history since I was young, and today I just arrived back home, in Perth having completed my final mission. And I felt the need to show some of the places I’ve been. [Edited by Don W]

Thanks, Agit8dChop. Your work brought me to tears.

I respect the French. They were betrayed in 1940. If it ever needs to be reminded, the French taught us how important leaders really are. In 1933 the Germans choose Hitler and the Americans choose Roosevelt. It could have been the other way round. The British ultimately choose Churchill and the French went through a succession of proto-fascist governments ending with Marshal Petain and Vichy. Leaders do matter.

On August 6, 1945, I was 11 and making my usual 2 weeks summer visit before school resumed in the fall, with my family near Fordsville, Ky. Population 700. Newspapers called the atom bomb a Super Bomb. The first bomb was repeated on August 9, 1945. One bomb, one city.

No one knew what a Super Bomb was then, but everyone knew the war with Japan would soon be over. My aunt cried then, the only time I ever saw that, when she realized her 4th and last son in the Armed Forces would be coming home and not going to Japan. Seven members of my extended family served in War 2; all came home safely. I am not religious; living or dying was just a matter luck, pure luck, sometimes good and sometimes bad.

Although I was too young to understand or maybe the word is appreciate, the sacrifices being made around the world in War 2, Nanking, Singapore, Okinawa, Stalingrad, Auschwitz, El Alamein and so on, I must explain that I feel honored to have lived in that time - 1941-1945 - because it was the best of all times I have ever lived in.

I understand those who died, or were severely wounded, their families and friends may not share my enthusiasm for those years. But if you can imagine 130 million people united almost to the man in a single cause, working together and knowing however remotely, that the future of humanity was at stake, you can get a glimpse of what it meant to be a part of War 2. Surely the watershed event of the 20th century if not of the 2nd millennia. As soldiers on the battlefield bond, so also civilians on the home front felt an immense satisfaction engaging in a common enterprise and a job well done! Indulge me two recounts: I walked 3 city blocks from my elementary school to my home, and even we young boys who were not known for our self discipline, would walk quietly past houses where the sign, “Quiet, Defense Worker Asleep” was posted.

And we showed special consideration to the Blue Star flags suspended in the windows, signifying a household member in the Armed Forces. The widow next door to me showed the Gold Star flag meaning her only son had died in the war. We cut her grass, policed her yard and were ready to run to the corner grocery for her. We wanted to do that. Very few Americans suffered that fate - the Gold Star - which may explain our love of war.

OK, end of sentimental journey into the past. Thanks again, Agit8dChop, for doing something I’m not sure I could do. By the bye, did you give any thought to the Pegasus Bridge site? Major Howard and 3 or 4 glider loads of UK soldiers were as heroic as anybody on June 6, and they were the first to fire a shot in anger that day.

Thanks again, Agit8dChop. Way Above Top Secret!

[edit on 5/14/2007 by donwhite]

Beautiful. Really beautiful pictures.

I grew up in Portsmouth, England, just a hop across the channel to the beaches of D-Day. I have been on many trips to the north coast of France and the various museums on both sides of the water.

I know at one of the beaches you can still see parts of the mulberry harbour that was floated across the channel to help the allied forces land on the soft sand. I have photos of that somewhere!

Thoses gliders that DonWhite was just talking about, well some of them anyway, were built by my Grandpa. He was a very young chippie at the time of D-Day. He lied about his age and joined the RAF. In fact he gave them the completely wrong date of birth, then forgot and celibrated his birthday on the wrong day till he was 50, when a relative found his birth certificate in Malta.

Anyhow, one of his tales of the war, was recieving (not personally mind) the D-Day designation for the aircraft that were to be used in operation Overlord. He remembed working for nearly two days painting those black and white stripes on the wings, he said they ended up useing the floor brushes to get the job done quicker and because they didn't have enough paint brushes.

He was always a gentleman. I miss him loads.

Great pics man. Thanks for the memory trip.

Awesome. I have been to omaha years ago and your pics brought back some memories. Those craters are huge and some parts of the barracks are still open for example the place where the soldiers slept in.

Thanks for sharing these! Your pictures are fascinating. Anyone who doesn't believe the Holocause happened just need to look at your pics of the ovens. Very emotional stuff, indeed.

Wow breathtaking images there man, I didn't realise that you were doing this! I can't begin to imagine how cool it must be to visit all of these places and learn about them. The only real WW2 place that I have visited is Normandy where they still fly allied flags all over the place as a sign of appreciation.

Oh and also I live in the only British land that the Germans managed to occupy, which means that there are some pretty interesting things left around like war tunnels and bunkers/fortifications, so I also love learning about WW2 stuff!

I'll visit more places some day though, i'd love to do Berlin and Hiroshima, from your accounts it sounds amazing!

You have voted Agit8dChop for the Way Above Top Secret award.

Thank you so much for posting the pictures of your journey. I am a huge world war 2 buff, my grandpa and three of his brothers fought over there, two of his brothers were at normandy on dday. My grandpa never got into telling stories of his time over there, I think that is probably something he wanted to forget instead of relive. I have watched band of brothers on HBO, and every time I do those old guys talking about their time over there losing their friends seeing the worst humanity has to offer brings me to tears.

Your pictures of hiroshima and nagasaki were very thought provoking, it would be hard to be an American standing there and not feel some guilt about that. I truly hope that is the only time weapons like that will ever be used, I hope that as an example shows the devastation they cause.

Thank you so much, for posting that.

posted by Agit8dChop
Well I’ve done it, Ever get really drunk one night, talk about something your so passionate about.. and ... say '' I’m going to do it. ''

Well after 2 yrs of backpacking and working...at least $10,000 in hostels, transport and airfares.. I finally got myself too, and absorbed the atmosphere in the area's I feel contributed to mankind’s standing today.

The events of World war 2. I’ve been obsessed with war history since I was young, and today I just arrived back home, in Perth having completed my final mission. And I felt the need to show some of the places I’ve been.

First let me thank you for the great pictures. Next, let me admit I not only admire you, I envy you. I also admit I never took advantage of the opportunities I had to do things like you have done. I was afraid to go it alone. And on a slim budget. You have my unmitigated admiration. Congratulations to you. And thanks for sharing!

Commentary on World War 2. I’m sure a lot of people do not understand me when I say I count it a privilege to have lived in World War 2. Without doubt, the greatest happening in the 20th century - maybe any century - and the watershed event of that century. There was a lot of luck involved too. In 1933, Germany choose Hitler and America choose Roosevelt. There were Roosevelts in Germany; there were Hitlers in America. We got lucky! While naming names, I must mention Winston Churchill to who more than any other man we owe the defeat of Germany (and the USSR) and the freedoms we enjoy today. Thank you Sir Winston. You did right by us.

By the time I was 10 years old, it had became my regular summer school vacation event to visit with relatives for two weeks. Some were farmers and lived in smallish rural communities. During my 11th year, in August, 1945, I was visiting on a small farm near Fordsville, Ky,, a town of 300 in Ohio County (named for the river, not the state). When the first atomic bomb was dropped on Japan - August 6 - local people were amazed! It was described in newspapers as a “super bomb” in that one bomb obliterated one city! We had sent that bomb to Hiroshima by a flight of 3 B-29s unescorted by fighters. The Japanese air defenses had been effectively emasculated by a lack of trained pilots and a lack of gasoline to fly the few planes they did have.

The Japanese did not capitulate at once. The US then sent its second a-bomb to Nagasaki on August 9. The Japanese imperial counselors who had said the Hiroshima event was a “one of a kind” were dramatically proved wrong. Now the emperor had to face reality. How many more atom bombs did America have? When would Tokyo be on the to-bomb list? It was probably next. The war had suddenly turned personal for the emperor. After a failed palace coup, the emperor radioed to his people that he (and by extension Japan) were surrendering to overwhelming power. That was on August 15. The formal surrender papers were signed on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay.

As to the usage of atomic bombs, I argue President Truman had no options. With weapons that could end the war in his possession and not to use them or to fritter them away by demonstration blasts, would have been immoral, irresponsible and an impeachable offense. The Director of the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer warned the world, he quoted from the Hindu Holy Text (written in Sanskrit) the Bhagavad Gita. "If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one. Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."

Conclusion. I don’t think Germany or Japan could have made an atomic bomb. The Oak Ridge gaseous diffusion plant - enriching uranium - used TEN PER CENT of all the electric power in the US to operate and make enough uranium for 2 bombs. Hanford - dependent on the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam for its electricity - made the single plutonium bomb. Los Alamos assembled the 3 bombs which itself was a humongous engineering triumph worthy of a Nobel Prize. 3 out of 3! That’s being smart. Knowing HOW is not even close to being ABLE. Aside: Both Oak Ridge and Hanford were supplied by Federally owned electric power generating systems. You might say socialism at work?

Great Pictures!

[edit on 12/28/2007 by donwhite]

Thank you Agit8dChop, some fantastic pictures.

Have never been to the D-Day landing sites or spent much time in Berlin other than working but I have been to Auschwitz.
I agree, it is hard to capture the scale and atmosphere of the camp; a truly harrowing and in some ways re-assuring experience.
War is never good but a visit to Auschwitz, or somewhere similar, justifies the actions taken; Hitler had to be opposed.

A friend of mine visited Hiroshima about 5 years ago. He told me it was a remarkable experience and helped contribute to a complete about turn in his outlook on historical events of the time and their cause and effect.

I sincerely hope that I too get to visit Hiroshima at sometime in my life; it stands there as a lesson and message to all of us.